Lucky discovery saves firehall project

by jmaloni

Sat, Jul 28th 2012 08:15 am

by
John M. Curtin

Lewiston
Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 has been busy at work the past month, as its
renovations have begun. The $1.5 million project, which includes
everything from a new parking lot to a larger truck bay, could have
been impaired if it wasn't for a wet discovery.

"What
happened was that standing water appeared when they removed the old
pavement of the parking lot. So they used a digital camera to take
pictures during a period of time, and found that it was seeping
through the ground," says Bryan Meigs, superintendent of the
village's Public Works Department.

According
to fire company President Les Myers, research had shown that an old
pool belonging to a house that once sat at the firehall's location
was buried. When the house burned down, the remains were pushed into
the pool, still with water in it, and buried - later to be built
upon by the fire department. Although the amount of water wasn't
much, if not discovered, the old pool would have turned the
renovation project into a renovation disaster.

"The
weight of the new truck bay, and trucks themselves, would have
cracked the floor and eventually water would've leaked into the new
hall," says Meigs.

For
the past several weeks, construction crews have worked on the
demolition of the interior's old walls and such. Myers says now
that the old pool has been filled in, outside site work for the new
edition is set to begin next week. Pictures of the hall's
renovations can be seen on the fire company's online home page athttp://www.lfd1.com.